Beaver County is joining the nation in examining its history of racism and racial inequity.
County leaders, guided by the Inclusion, Diversity and Awareness Council and the Beaver County Community and Law Enforcement Coalition, are hosting virtual “racial equity summits” to foster tough conversations and address systemic disparities acrossmultiple sectors.
When 46-year-old George Floyd was killed by a police officer in Minneapolis last spring, Anthony Mitchell recalled the violence and prejudice he’s experienced throughout Pennsylvania.
“For many African Americans, watching George Floyd’s murder was extremely traumatizing,” the Penn State-Greater Allegheny professor told a panel of local stakeholders, elected officials and business owners last week. “It rekindled memories of the centuries of violence against African Americans, against Black bodies, men and women.”
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Western Pennsylvania has made progress bridging the racial divide in housing, employment, policing, education and health, speakers said, but sizable inequities remain. Mitchell pointed to the skyrocketing COVID-19 death rates among Black and Indigenous Americans as more evidence of systemic failures nationwide.
“Inequality is both historic and ongoing – it’s an over 400-year experience,” he said. “It’s the nation's longest pandemic.”
Black and Hispanic Americans disproportionately represent the United States prison population, something Lena Dowdell said begins as early as elementary school. Educators are more likely to punish Black students with detention or expulsion than they are white kids exhibiting the same behaviors, effectively removing them from the classroom for innocuous conduct, she said.
“In schools, something I see is how race shows up in our discipline policies,” said the Aliquippa native and school principal in New York, noting that Black students are often criminalized during teaching moments. “Certain behaviors that kids do are just things that kids do...our children are learning and they're growing. It’s our jobs as educators to take those opportunities as learning moments.”
Kenya Johns, a licensed counselor from Beaver Falls, shared images of how poverty and institutional racism hinders brain development and leads to poorer school performance.
A 2015 JAMA Pediatrics study found that children who grew up in families below the federal poverty line had gray matter volumes 8% to 10% below normal development. It also increases the likelihood of a child developing mental and learning impairments, Johnssaid.
“We know that poverty is linked to racism and racial inequity,” she said. “That means this group of people is already a step behind to understand how the world works, understand how society works and how to navigate it...less likely to pull themselves up by the bootstraps.”
Lesley Hallas, an administrator at Beaver County Children and Youth Services, points to an overrepresentation of Black families in the child welfare system. She said Black children are more likely to be referred to and accepted bywelfare programs, and more likely to be removed from homes than white families with similar challenges.
“In Beaver County, we see a higher incident of generational cases,” she said. On a positive note, Hallassaid Beaver County has a higher rate of kinship placement among Black families than other groups– keeping kids with loved ones.
Beaver County Sheriff Tony Guy, speaking from a law enforcement perspective, said his department comprises demographics similar to the county; people of color represent about 10% of his department.
It’s challenging to attract a diverse pool of candidates, Guy said, because some groups – women, in particular, he said – “don't seem to be as attracted to this field.” Small Beaver County police departments with few resources struggle to prioritizediversity in recruitment, Guysaid.
“At the local level, we just don't have the resources to do that,” he said. “However, I think we are looking at things like jobs fairs and college fairs. The truth is, I think we have to start earlier. I think we have to start at...what attracts people to this field of law enforcement.”
The past year has exposed a number of socioeconomic and racial disparities, Beaver County Commissioner Jack Manning said during the forum.
“From health disparities, where the pandemic affected a disproportionate share of our Black, brown and Asian communities, to the economic impact on housing and homeownership, public transportation, education and access to the internet...” he said. “We have a lot totalk about, and a lot to do.”
The series’ next installment is set for April 15.
